the textile art diary

I have disabled comments on my blog because I want it to be about  creating art and my art practice, and not about who likes or visits me. 

I have had a lot of problems with motivation and inspiration over the last few years and, yes, I could write a diary which is private, however I think that the online format is more likely to make myself more accountable in my journey. 

I began university studies in fine art two years ago and this has eaten into my studio times as well as changed and challenged my thinking in many ways. 

I am present online mostly in pictures, in facebook groups, on instagram and Sktchy and find these much easier to post on (probably because I don't have to write much!).

It's funny, when I was a child, I wanted to be a writer, but as an adult, my impetus has always been visual art and I now tend to avoid writing! 

I love to teach, and in the past, my blog has been about tutorials, but I think now, I need to do a bit of that writing I have avoided in order to bring myself back to creating regularly.

Just to show myself that I have been achieving although I am always  on at myself  about not working hard enough, I have inserted a few photos of recent work in my writing. 

I have been doing a lot of drawing and mostly portraits, although I still do some textiles and craft.  Drawing is easy and doesn't require much equipment.  I am now the proud owner of a ipad pro and apple pencil, so many of these were digitally done.

I hope as I said that I will keep posting.  If I do, I think my studio practice will improve and i will get my mojo back!

A bit of paint

I felt like painting the other day, but had no Idea what to paint.  You know we all suffer from that sometimes.  So instead of dithering, I just slapped some paint on a canvas.

This was my first layer.  Still no idea.

I added some stencilling.  Still no idea

I added some dribbles, still didn't like it, so I added some more paint.  Still no idea.

I saw a blue pot, so I painted that in.

The dribbles from previously made some yellow bricks, so I painted them in.

A bit more work on the bricks, and the pot.

I got rid of the yellow blob on the left of the pot and put some foreground in.
And that's where I am at, but now I have an idea.  Geraniums, perhaps, and I think an orange red glaze over the bricks.
But As usual, I will let it sit for a while before I finish it.
It's amazing where ideas come from.
Picasso said "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working"  It is one of my favourite quotes, because it is so true.

Happy Creating!

One UFO bites the dust

Today's ATC is a by product of the journalling I've been doing lately.  I have been putting ATC sized cards on my table around what I've een working on and seeing what the overspray and splats give me.  This bird came from a suggestion of a tail and some white space.  He could have been a pidgeon, but somehow, I thought he might be a snowy kestrel so I gave him a little hooked beak.

Now to my UFO.  I have been working on a double wedding ring on and off for about four years.  And today I finally finshed piecing the top.  (don't look too closely, it has not been pressed and has spent long periods of time screwed up and shoved down the bottom of the cupboard)

This is about two thirds of it.  The bottom of it is off the bottom of the bed. 

And here's a closer look at the fabrics.  It was the main fabric that I started with, then I chose the crimson and blue (there is some blue in the floral) to make the rings.
I must say, I'm glad it's done and I love it, but four years is a long time to spend on a quilt.  And now I will be spending the winter quilting it  (I am going to hand quilt it. :-o)

Have a great weekend

More butterflies

No ATC today, although I could have made one as you will see later.
I have been working on my first task for christy tomlinson's Living canvas course.
This is a mixed media journalling course with a difference.  It's about exploring ourselves as well.
As usual, I put out way too much paint, so did a few backgrounds

As you can see, I am partial to green and purple.  I also like this texture, it reminds me of wisteria.
I also did a few tags.

Colour is not good, it was pouring all day and quite dark.  There is no black, it is all purple.

This is the bit of shelf liner I used to make the texture.
I also collected a few butterflies to play with.

First one is a modelling paste butterfly a la christie.  Second are some printouts of vintage butterflies from the Graphics fairy and third are a few different sized of die cut butterflies from papers and some from angelina.

And this is what I came up with.  Parts are out of focus because it is too deep for the scanner with the spine.

So here's a slightly better one of the front cover.  I made a stencil from the cut out  moth and used it to make a moulding paste one, which I put under to give the cut out some depth.  Some of the text is handwritten, and some is stamped and some are stickers.  'Changing' is black embossing.
There are lots of layers and I created a lot of texture with scrunched tissue but  it's hard to see.

So here's a bit of a close up.  You can see the cutout, some doodling, the raised embossing, and at the bottom the handwritten 'you' and stamped 'are'.

Here's the back.  I have written a lot of related words and done a lot of doodling.  The butterfly here is just stencilled modelling paste on the book, which I colured and doodled on.

Here's a close up of that.
I used a lot of gold paint and rub on on the book and it looks very old and distressed.
I am really pleased with it, although it is quiite dark, compared to those of many of my classmates.  It is lovely to look at and to touch.  I am looking forward to working in it.

Not much textile work to show today as this has been my main focus for a few days.
Monday, however is another story.
Sunday US time is the reveal for Tangled Textiles, So it will be Monday for me here.
My piece is nearly finished.

Your digi inspiration for today.

butterflies on my mind

Yes, Butterflies and what they represent are on my mind.  Mostly because I am doing Your living canvas, with Christy Tomlinson, which is about exploring change in your life with your art.
And since I was making free motion butterflies for my journal, I thought I might as well make an ATC as well.  I hummed and hahed about painting or adding to it, but you know, when you are working on change, you need to keep it simple, lol.

Here are a few of the butterflies I made.

Last one first, lol. I like this one best so far.

And a couple more.  Basically I put organza very tightly in a little hoop, then drew them freehand with free motion.  I cut them out with the soldering iron so that the edges are sealed.  The pictures do not do them justice, They are absolutely gorgeous, if I do say so myself.
I experimented with other colours of organza, but I haven't cut them out yet.  As you can see, I forgot the antennae on some, but hey they are still cute.
I have finished my swap page and will post it when it is recieved by the person it's sent to and I am just embellishing my tangled textiles 'green' piece prior to reveal day in four days, I think.

And here is my digi inspiration, in keeping with my theme today.

wow, 300, then frames and some journal pages

Wow, my 300th post, a bit of a milestone!  Thank you to all the people I have met and talked to over the last 300 posts,  You have all given me the impetus to keep creating when I didn't much feel like anything.  You have all helped me to grow and develop into a working artist.  Thanks.

This ATC is from a variety of collaged fabrics, including some fabric paper and lace, overlaid with painted fusible.  The two frames are little metal bits I collected from resourcerescue, a while ago.
I have all sorts of strange bits, don't I?
After having the weekend off, I haven't much to show, although I have almost finished two projects.  One is a swap for the fabric book group at stitchin fingers, and the other is my piece for Tangled textiles.  The TT piece is due next weekend and the theme was 'green'.
The stitchin fingers swap should have been posted a week ago, but I just kept fiddling with it and it will probably go out on wed now.  Naughty me.  At least it is an australian person, so it will get there reasonably quick.

Anyhow, I thought I'd show you a couple of journal pages

I actually like this one, although I am still humming and hahing about redoing the writing.  I used stamps I made from puffy foam using the art studio's cuttlebug and some tim holtz dies.

I just mounted the foam on bits of perspex scrap with rubber cement, and voila'  some new stamps.  In the spread above, I used a range of inks, and the white flowers I stamped with versamark clear, them embossed with clear.  The green wash was added after and is resisted by the embossing.

This page had a few experiments in it.  The background was  red acrylic paint, sprayed with water then blotted, which gave a distressed sort of look.  The flowers on the left were done with modelling paste and a stencil, then when dry, I added pastel with a brush and sponge.  I started the flower with just a red and green marker, just lines, but didn't like it, then I used crayola slicks and a damp brush to shade them in.  The writing was a uniball broad white.

My digi inspiration for today is below.

Have a good few days.  See you Wednesday.

foil and leather and some mail

 Thanks for the comments about the drawing, guys.  I should be good, I've been practicing for a bout forty years. lol.  but thanks.

This ATC uses velvet, polyester, leather, painted face wipes and textured synthetic,  layered with painted fusible and foil, then a bit of leather strip to top it off.

I thought I would share someone else's work with you today, a couple of items I got in the mail this week.

This absolutely gorgeous and colourful piece of blackwork embroidery is from a very talented friend in Spain.

and this beautiful fabric page, interpreting my theme of leaves is from a friend in Queensland.  notice the three large leaves made from wire and green stocking.  Love it!  I am really missing my embellisher since the rabbit chewed the cord :-(